Where are their faces?

These are just a few fun costume designs I did a while back. Obviously not the kind of outfits you'd see in most comics but I kind of like them for a change of pace.

Universal Retirement Community

Every year I like to send a funny little drawing to the folks at the San Diego Comic Con in hopes of getting it published in their souvenir book. It was my wife's idea originally to do these drawings in a cartoony squat style. Since the first one I sent in was a "super hero sleepover" that's what we usually call these, even if they don't have any super heroes in them. This is for the 75th anniversary of Universal Monsters and it was Laura's idea this time to have Dracula's teeth in the glass, Frankenstein's monster to have these hiked-up pants, and to have all of the creatures in a retirement home. I think it's a lot better than my idea of the Dick Tracy rogues gallery in a kiddie pool.

Here's the Thing...

Here's the everlovin' blue eyed Thing for ya today...Just trying out an old brush I put "Brush Shaper" on. This stuff is pretty awesome, even on brushes I thought I'd have to toss in the trash! IT'S BRUSH FIXIN' TIME!!!

Another Shameless Plug

Here are a few more outfits for the cast of Queen & Country. Just wanted to do another Q&C post since I just got my first look at the printed copy of issue #29. I'm pretty darn happy with it I gotta say. Nobody ever gives any love to letterers, but John Dranski did a bang-up job on this one. If you don't care about my drawings, or Greg Rucka's awesome writing, or my pal Brian Hurtt's sweet cover pick it up to learn a thing or two about what a difference a great letterer who knows balloon placement can make. For real, go pick it up...on stands Wednesday the 29th of March!

Doodles

Here's a sketchbook page of warm-ups. There's a couple of swipes I can't seem to place, I think I had stumbled across a book of the '50s which is what most likely inspired this page. Sorry for the brain fart, this is out of last year's pile of sketchbooks.

Feelin' Blue?

Here's a quick sketch I did last night in between sequential pages to loosen up. I've decided to leave all of my markers within arms length of my desk so that maybe I'll be more inclined to experiment with color. We'll see how that goes,eh.

"Batman's in comics?"

Batman was the first comic book I ever read, the reason I became a collector and what inspired me to become a comic book artist myself. If that three-pack of comics my Grandma bought me that day twenty years ago hadn't been so great there's no telling where I'd be today. So I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who helped create all those great stories I grew up with, and a big thanks to my Grandma for spoiling me with the exploits of "that guy from the Superfriends".

Ol' Horn Head

Here's a doodle of Daredevil from my files. I did the original on 11X17 bristol in Sumi ink with a Raphael #2. I did all the rest of the work on a sheet of copy paper, after I reduced the image to about 67%, with Prismacolor markers and a bunch of cheap acrylic paint for highlights.

Tales to Astonish!

Hey kids, just a quick Pitt brush pen sketch of Colossus for ya today. If you haven't read Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men let me tell you, coming from a fan of the wicked good '80s X-Men, I'm loving this book. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good mutie yarn with all of the team members I grew to love as a kid.

Heads up!

I hope nobody minds another Queen & Country plug, which comes out March 29 kids, but here are the head shots I worked up for the roster that appears at the start of each issue. If you look real hard you might be able to guess what actors I use in my head to play the Q&C characters.

Crooked Hills

Here's something a little different. These doodles were all done in a frenzy after reading my friend Cullen Bunn's manuscript for his young-adult book Crooked Hills. Whenever our schedules match up I'd love to get a chance to work with him, whether it's on a comic adaptation of Crooked Hills or one of his other swell ideas. Get in on the ground floor now guys, CB is gonna be huge, like Bendis huge, go check out his website when you got a minute.

Great Scott!

Here's a quick marker sketch I did the other day of Scott Pilgrim.
If you haven't read this book by Bryan Lee O'Malley by now RUN, don't walk, to the nearest book store and pick one up today! I promise not only will you love this book but you'll end up telling everyone you know " you gotta read it".

Paper Dolls

Here are a few costume designs for a character named Kate from Queen & Country. I rarely use color in my drawings but I like to try something different with my "paper doll" outfits.

Queen & Country is written by Greg Rucka and drawn by yours truly, and will be on sale at your LCS on March 29!

I'm gonna eat your brains!

Alright, here's the last superhero/villain I'll post for at least a few days. I just had to get this Venom drawing out of my system after seeing the preview image of the black suit Spiderman that's up over at Superherohype.com. The title of this post might seem strange to anyone who didn't own the old Venom toy from way back but it seriously said "I'm gonna eat your brains" no joke.

Thwip!

I've been reading the second volume of Essential Spiderman lately so I couldn't help but put up a Spidey drawing. John Romita Sr. was in my opinion the best artist to take on Spidey, not to mention his beatiful supporting cast. Has MJ or Gwen looked as good by anyone since? Just looking at a few pages of JRSr's can help get me pumped to draw even on my roughest day.

This looks like a job for...

I've been been chompin' at the bit for the new Superman movie so you all get to see my version of ol' Supes. Since most of my work is full of heavy shadows I decided to switch things up a bit with this and keep it as simple as possible. This'd be a fun one to color...maybe when I have some free time.